Brackitz is a new construction toy that promotes STEM learning, using blocks to lay the foundation for higher-level cognitive thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. Sets come in 50, 100, and 200 pieces. Standard sets include interlocking 4-inch wooden planks and 90-degree and 120-degree angle connectors, which can be pieced together to form various models and architectural structures.

Brackitz’ connectors can interlock at different angles and directions, allowing kids to build circles, corners, and bendable structures. Brackitz is suitable for kids ages 3 and up.

Laser Pegs will be featured in a new line of Peg Head-themed building kits accompanied by animated short stories.

Peg Heads building kits include customizable Mini Figures with interchangeable horn, eye, mouth, body with moveable arm, and leg blocks. The three Peg Head characters—Zippy, Peg, and Spinner—have 144 different face combinations between them.

Laser Pegs will also release three light-up Big Figures that work with other Peg Heads building pieces. Both the mini-figures and Big Figures can be integrated into any existing Laser Pegs set.

Jeffery Scott, who has written more than 700 scripts for various animated series, wrote the animated short stories.

The Peg Head kits are non-gendered, and the pieces are compatible with other major construction kits on the market today. Intended for kids ages 3 and up, Peg Heads will be available next year.

Laser Pegs will construct a 15-foot-tall, 10-foot-long dinosaur, the Pegasaur, to greet guests at the entrance of the 2014 Toy Fair convention this weekend. A team of four people spent more than a month building the mammoth creature that is illuminated in shades of purple, yellow, green, and red by the thousands of LED lights that are encased inside each tiny Laser Pegs piece used to build it.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kits will feature all four turtle characters and include a kit containing 16 punch-n-fold shapes, more than 30 stickers, and 40 adhesive dots to construct a 3-D paper figure. It will be available early February. The SpongeBob Squarepants kit will feature the two main characters from the show and include eight to 16 punch-n-fold shapes, more than 120 stickers, and 40 adhesive dots to construct a 3-D paper figure. It will be available mid-year.

Giving kids their very first ride of their own, Buildex Riding Toys offer innovation in children’s toys. With cool suspension and steering, these easy-to-build, no-tools-required wooden toys, Buildex Riding Toys, from Kids Preferred, introduces many new wooden construction toys in a new product category.

Developed in conjunction with toy designers at Chelona Wooden World, Buildex toys are ideal for your little explorers looking to take their first independent ride. This new generation of real-wood toys with water based stains was designed for kids (and kids at heart) with an appreciation for movement and design. The collection utilizes Grid-Lock and Safe-Lock, unique construction systems that allow strong and safe assembly without the need for glue and tools. [Read more...]

Kids Preferred, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of plush toys and gifts, will showcase the expansion of its Buildex wooden construction toy offerings. The new emergency rescue vehicles, in particular, each offer to build vehicles in two different ways from the same high-quality parts. Each vehicle in the set has two different options for building, creating, and playing.

This new generation of toys was designed to encourage children to develop 3-D thinking and an appreciation for construction, movement, and design. The collection utilizes Grid-Lock, a unique construction system which allows strong and safe assembly without the need for glue and tools. [Read more...]

GP Flair has announced that it will be the new UK and Ireland distribution partner for a new range of WWE construction figures and play sets. The new collection, manufactured by U.S. toy company The Bridge Direct, is expected in stores in the late summer.

Designed and manufactured by the Bridge Direct, under the banner “C3” (create, construct, and connect) the new collection will include universally compatible building bricks and accessories that can be constructed into WWE rings, as well as WWE Superstars. At launch multiple SKUs will be available with more in the pipeline for subsequent seasons.

Toys “R” Us Inc. will enhance product categories that have experienced sales growth over the past few years, such as education, tablets, and construction, as part of their 2013 holiday strategy.

This season, a dedicated Imaginarium shop will set in-store, and each store will have a whole aisle dedicated to new educational products, such as microscopes and telescopes from Edu Science and language-learning programs from Little Pim. Meanwhile, capitalizing on the growing construction category, the company will install a “Shop within a Store” in approximately 300 locations, showcasing construction brands such as Lego and Mega Bloks. The company will also feature approximately 70 Lego exclusives this holiday season, including Legends of ChimaThe Croc Swap Hideout and Star WarsJedi Defender Class Cruiser.

After experiencing increases in sales of tablets and tablet accessories, Toys “R” Us will add easy-to-navigate 32-foot shops that will showcase 25 tablets that can be tested and engaged with by kids and parents. These shops are expected to set in the majority of Toys “R” Us locations by October. The company also has exclusive tablet products, such as the Kurio 10s by Techno Source and its recently announced tabeo e2, and will be launching a dedicated online tablet guide.

Finally, online shoppers can now place a “Buy Online, Pickup In Store,” order on toysrus.com and it will be ready for pickup in under an hour, and “Ship to Store” orders will now be available for pickup in five to 10 days. Later this fall, stores will be equipped with a secondary in-store pickup location, and “Ready for Pickup” emails that are sent to customers once their order is available will include a map of where the pickup location is positioned within the store.

Available in July, Bendastix will offer a kit of soft construction components to build cars, flowers, kooky glasses, and anything the imagination can dream up. Patterned Bendastix is a cool combination of crafts and construction where kids can bend, mold, and shape without ever breaking. The funky pieces can be reused next time to create a different bracelet, a robot, or a hair band.

Designed for children ages 6 and up, Bendastix makes its debut with eight arts and crafts kits. Each kit is packaged with a soft and squishy handle. These kits include Big Box, Braceletz, Botz, Budz, Bandz, and Bowz.

Debbie Sterling creates a construction toy designed with girls in mind

What do Bob the Builder, Jimmy Neutron, and Bill Nye the Science Guy have in common? They all love engineering—and they are all male. Similarly, the construction aisles of toy stores are geared primarily toward boys, with blue and black boxes lining the shelves. Fear not, those of you with lady parts, GoldieBlox is here to inspire girls to tinker their way into the male-dominated world of engineering.

Debbie Sterling, who earned her degree in engineering from Stanford University, decided to create Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine, a construction toy specifically designed for young girls, two years ago. At one of Sterling’s “idea brunches,” where she and friends would get together to share their ideas over breakfast, the wheels started turning for the CEO when a fellow female engineer explained how playing with her brothers’ hand-me-down Legos influenced her. Having grown up with only a sister, Sterling was never exposed to construction toys as her parents never thought to venture into the boys’ toy aisles. “That morning, it hit me like a lightening bolt. I was sitting in that room and realized this is my life calling, as corny as it sounds,” she says. [Read more...]

New Products

Jakks Pacific Inc. has secured a licensing agreement with Lafig and Sony Pictures Consumer Products to produce toys and related products based on the Smurfs franchise, including the classic Smurfs brand and the upcoming Smurfs feature film premiering in August 2016. The worldwide master toy agreement includes the rights to produce figures, play sets, plush, [...]

On March 20, Nintendo will launch the Super Mario amiibo—Gold Edition, a gold-colored Mario figure that arrives on the same day as the Mario Party 10 game for the Wii U console. The new gold-colored Mario is compatible with multiple games that support the amiibo line of figures. Mario Party 10 features a new amiibo [...]

Jelly Jam Entertainment has partnered with Kids Preferred to launch The Moodsters, a new line of toys and books designed to teach kids the fundamentals of feelings. The Moodsters consist of five lovable detectives—Coz, Lolly, Snorf, Razzy, and Quigly—who come to the rescue whenever their friends, Zach and Zoey, have a feelings emergency. The stories [...]

The fifth season of TV series The Walking Dead will be accompanied by new The Walking Dead Minimates, from Diamond Select Toys and arriving at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide and toysrus.com in March. The new assortment features characters from the “All Out War” story arc featured in issues No. 115 to 126 of The [...]

Corus Entertainment‘s Nelvana has entered a partnership with Cepia LLC to bring the Zhu Zhu Pets brand back to store shelves, with Nelvana Studio producing a new animated series based upon the property. Nelvana Enterprises will also oversee global merchandising of the brand in conjunction with the distribution of the new series.